The present invention generally pertains to assembly toys and is particularly directed to an improved building element for a set of toy building elements.
Examples of prior art toy building elements are described in European Patent No. 0,766,585 in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,132,757; 3,195,266; 3,374,917; 3,745,736; 5,527,201; 5,653,621; 5,795,210 and 5,826,395 in International Application Publication No. WO 98/35735 and in Deutsches Offenlegungsschrift 2,105,568.
WO 98/35735 describes a building element for a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected in a releasable engagement, comprising a top, a bottom and side walls; wherein a first pair of oppositely disposed side walls each includes a receptacle having an entry opening of a given predominant width and a base region of a greater width; wherein another pair of oppositely disposed side walls each includes a peg having an indented portion and a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the width of the indented portion and greater than the given predominant width of the receptacle entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said receptacle in a side wall of another said building element with the distal portion of the peg residing in the base region of the receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,201 describes a toy building element having tongues and grooves formed on the side walls of the building element; wherein the grooves each have an entry opening of a given predominant width and a base region of a greater width; wherein the tongues each have an indented portion and a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the width of the indented portion and greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in a side wall of another said building element with the distal portion of the tongue residing in the base region of the groove; and wherein each tongue is flexible and split longitudinally into two parallel sections so that the tongue can be compressed laterally in order to effect said restraining engagement by frontally pressing the tongue into a said groove in another said building element.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a building element for a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected in a releasable engagement, comprising a top, a bottom and side walls; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one groove having an entry opening of a given predominant width and a base region of a greater width; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one tongue having an indented portion and a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the width of the indented portion and greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in a side wall of another said building element with the distal portion of the tongue residing in the base region of the groove; and wherein the tongue is flexible and split longitudinally into two parallel sections, each of which includes part of the indented portion and part of the distal portion of the tongue so that the distal portion of the tongue can be compressed laterally in order to effect said restraining engagement by frontally pressing the tongue into a said groove in another said building element; wherein the uncompressed width of one of said portions of the tongue is greater than the predominant width of the portion of the groove that is adjacent said one portion of the tongue when the distal portion of the tongue resides in the base region of the groove so that said one portion of the tongue is then compressed between and thereby frictionally engages the portions of the side wall that define said adjacent portion of the groove.
Preferably, the degree of said frictional engagement provided by said compression of the tongue when the distal portion of the tongue resides in the base region of the groove is such as to enable a stationary relative disposition of a pair of so engaged building elements to be varied precisely by smoothly sliding the tongue of one of the pair of engaged building elements within the groove of the other of the pair of engaged building elements, and also is such as to provide enough resistance to said sliding as to maintain said stationary relative disposition when one of said pair of engaged building elements has the top of its engaged side wall disposed at a greater height than the top of the engaged side wall of the other of said pair of building elements.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a building element for a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected in a releasable engagement, comprising a top, a bottom and side walls; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one groove having an entry opening of a given predominant width and a base region of a greater width; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one tongue having an indented portion and a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the width of the indented portion and greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in a side wall of another said building element with the distal portion of the tongue residing in the base region of the groove; wherein the tongue is flexible and split longitudinally into two parallel sections, each of which includes part of the indented portion and part of the distal portion of the tongue so that the distal portion of the tongue can be compressed laterally in order to effect said restraining engagement by frontally pressing the tongue into the said groove in the other said building element and in order to disengage the tongue from the said groove in the other said building element by frontally pulling the building element from the other said building element; and wherein adjacent the entry opening the groove is defined by a first portion of the at least one side wall that is inclined outward at an entry angle and a second portion of the at least one side wall that is inclined inward at a restraining angle that is less than the entry angle in relation to a virtual broad surface of the at least one side wall.
In a further aspect, the present invention provides a building element for a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected in a releasable engagement, comprising a top, a bottom and side walls; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one groove having an entry opening of a given predominant width and a base region of a greater width; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one tongue having an indented portion and a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the width of the indented portion and greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in a side wall of another said building element with the distal portion of the tongue residing in the base region of the groove; wherein the tongue is flexible and split longitudinally into two parallel sections, each of which includes part of the indented portion and part of the distal portion of the tongue so that the distal portion of the tongue can be compressed laterally in order to effect said restraining engagement by frontally pressing the tongue into the said groove in the other said building element and in order to disengage the tongue from the said groove in the other said building element by frontally pulling the building element from the other said building element; wherein adjacent the entry opening the groove is defined by a portion of the at least one side wall that is inclined inward at a restraining angle to define the base region of the groove; and wherein a portion of the tongue that initially contacts the portion of the at least one side wall at the entry opening, when the tongue is being frontally pressed into the said groove in the other said building element, is inclined outward at approximately a first angle; and wherein a portion of the tongue that is adjacent the inwardly inclined portion of the at least one side wall, when the distal portion of the tongue is engaged within the base region of the said groove in the other said building element, is inclined inward at a second angle than is less than the first angle in relation to a virtual broad surface of the at least one side wall.
In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a building element for a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected in a releasable engagement, comprising a top, a bottom and side walls; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one groove having an entry opening of a given predominant width; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one tongue having a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in another said building element; and wherein a said side wall including the at least one tongue has a primary surface that includes recesses adjacent the tongue so that the tongue extends outward from below the primary surface.
In yet a further aspect, the present invention provides a building element for a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected in a releasable engagement, comprising a top, a bottom and side walls, wherein the top includes a first type of coupling means and the bottom includes a second type of coupling means for interconnecting with the first type of coupling means on another said building element in a releasable frictional engagement; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one groove having an entry opening of a given predominant width; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one tongue having a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in another said building element; wherein the tongue is flexible and split longitudinally so that the tongue can be compressed laterally in order to effect said restraining engagement by frontally pressing the tongue into a said groove in another said building element; and wherein at least one of an adjacent pair of side walls are disposed at an oblique angle to one another, with each of said obliquely disposed adjacent pair including at least one said groove and at least one said tongue.
In an additional aspect, the present invention provides a building element for a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected in a releasable engagement, comprising a top, a bottom and side walls, wherein the top includes a first type of coupling means and the bottom includes a second type of coupling means for interconnecting with the first type of coupling means on another said building element in a releasable frictional engagement; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one groove having an entry opening of a given predominant width; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one tongue having a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in another said building element; wherein the tongue is flexible and split longitudinally so that the tongue can be compressed laterally in order to effect said restraining engagement by frontally pressing the tongue into a said groove in another said building element; and wherein each of a plurality of the side walls includes a plurality of said grooves and a plurality of said tongues.
In a further additional aspect, the present invention provides a building element for a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected in a releasable engagement, comprising a top, a bottom and side walls; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one groove having an entry opening of a given predominant width and a base region of a greater width; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one tongue having a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in another said building element; wherein the at least one tongue and/or the entry opening of the at least one groove is flexible so that said restraining engagement can be effected by frontally pressing the tongue into a said groove in another said building element; and wherein one of an adjacent pair of the side walls includes at least one said groove and the other of the adjacent pair includes at least one said tongue, and the adjacent pair are disposed at an oblique angle to one another; characterized in that (a) each of said obliquely disposed adjacent pair of side walls includes at least one said groove and at least one said tongue; or (b) the side walls define an octagon, each of a first set of every-second side wall includes a said groove but no tongue, and each of a second set of every-second side walls disposed between the side walls of the first set includes a said tongue but no groove; or (c) the side walls define an octagon, and each side wall includes at least one said groove and at least one said tongue; or (d) the side walls define a four-sided parallelogram having four oblique angles, with at least one of the side walls including at least one said groove and with at least one of the side walls including at least one said tongue.
In still another aspect, the present invention provides a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected side-by-side in a releasable restraining engagement, comprising a first building element as specified in the preceding paragraph; and a second building element, comprising a top, a bottom and side walls defining a rectangle; wherein at least one of the side walls of the second building element includes at least one groove having an entry opening of the given predominant width and a base region of a greater width; wherein at least one of the side walls of the second building element includes at least one tongue having a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening of the first and second building elements for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in either the first building element or another said second building element; and wherein one of an adjacent pair of the side walls of the second building element includes at least one said groove and the other of the adjacent pair includes at least one said tongue.
In a still further aspect, the present invention provides a set of toy building elements that are capable of being interconnected side-by-side in a releasable restraining engagement, wherein a first building element and a second building element each comprises a top, a bottom and side walls; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one groove having an entry opening of a given predominant width and a base region of a greater width; wherein at least one of the side walls includes at least one tongue having a distal portion, with the distal portion having a predominant width that is greater than the given predominant width of the groove entry opening for interconnecting in a releasable restraining engagement with a said groove in another said building element; wherein the at least one tongue and/or the entry opening of the at least one groove is flexible so that said restraining engagement can be effected by frontally pressing the tongue into a said groove in another said building element; wherein one of an adjacent pair of the side walls includes at least one said groove and the other of the adjacent pair includes at least one said tongue, and the adjacent pair are disposed at an oblique angle to one another; wherein in the first building element a said one adjacent pair of side walls are disposed at a first oblique angle to one another; and wherein in the second building element a said one adjacent pair of side walls are disposed at a second oblique angle to one another, with the second oblique angle being different than the first oblique angle.